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Date of birth: 11th April 1974, in Fredrikstad, Østfold, Norway.Address: Utsiravegen 183, NO-5547 Utsira, Norway; geirmobakken(commercial at)yahoo.noTelephone no.: (+47) 52 74 92 94.Background: Part of the birdwatching scene in Østfold county from 1988 to 1991, with the rubbish tip of Øra and the island of Akerøya as primary localities. Visited Utsira, Rogaland county for the first time in 1989, moved there in 1994. Works part-time at the local nursing home. Co-author of Fugler og fuglafolk på Utsira [Birds and birdwatchers of Utsira] (2004) and the forthcoming Sjeldne fugler i Norge [Rare birds in Norway]. News correspondent to Birding World(2008–2013) and Dutch Birding (1995–). Lives in Normandiet (former Boarding house) in Nordvik. See also www.utsirafuglestasjon.noTravel activity: Azores, Britain, Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Channel Islands, Corsica, Cyprus, Finnmark, Ireland, Israel, Morocco, the Netherlands, Oman, Spain. Travelled Utsira–Fair Isle–Scilly–Helgoland–Utsira in the summer of 2006.

(My lists are based on the taxonomy of BOURC and includes species in Category A only; see below for a full-blown version of my Utsira list.)

Utsira's first Hawk Owl Surnia ulula for 29 years, as seen from the ringing forest in September 2012 (Geir Mobakken).

Together with the owl (Torborg Berge).

Self-found birds

To find the birds on your own is always the most rewarding, and on this background I sat up rules for so-called self-found birds in the mid-1990s. They go like this:

§ 1 One has to discover the bird oneself.

§ 2 One has to correctly identify the bird.

§ 3 One has to be unaware of the bird´s presence.

§ 3.1 As for breeding species with a restricted
distribution, the condition that the bird
is not a certain, known individual has to apply.

§ 4 The record (seen or heard) must stem
from natural circumstances: birds found trapped in mist-nets or the like, and
also birds that materialize with the aid of artificial lures, fall outside this
given scope.

§ 5 The record must concern species/individuals that have occurred
in an apparently natural state
(Categories A and B of AERC/BOURC).

§ 6 The record must have been accepted if the species is considered
by the local or national rare birds
committee.

3rd November 201310th September 20139th August 201322nd May 201313th May 201323rd April 201314th April 2013

6th October 20121st October 201224th September 2012

6th August 2011

5th October 20102nd September 20102nd June 201011th May 201025th April 2010

25th May 2008

11th October 200725th September 2007

2nd October 200615th June 2006

6th October 20052nd October 2005

6th October 2004

22nd November 200313th October 20034th October 200328th August 200320th August 2003

6th October 20023rd October 200229th September 20024th September 20023rd August 20026th June 200223rd May 2002

21st October 200116th October 200114th August 200113th May 200110th March 2001

6th November 200022nd October 200029th August 200010th May 2000

16th October 19997th October 19996th October 199930th August 199918th August 1999

28th May 199817th May 1998

30th December 199713th November 199730th September 199727th September 19974th September 199712th June 19976th June 199728th May 199729th April 1997

22nd October 199610th October 19968th October 19968th October 19968th October 199621st September 19968th August 199622nd May 199613th May 199623rd April 199611th April 199624th March 199613th February 1996

7th November 19955th November 19954th November 199531st October 199528th October 199523rd October 199521st October 199511th October 19959th October 199530th September 199525th September 199512th September 19955th September 199519th August 199513th August 19959th August 199516th July 19953rd June 19953rd June 199530th May 19958th May 1995

My 200th species on Utsira was a Sandwich Tern on 23rd April 1995. Thereafter ↑

The species I have not seen on Utsira

Steller´s Eider Polysticta stelleri

Black Grouse Tetrao tetrix

Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris

Little Bittern Ixobrychus minutus

Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax

Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia

Spotted Crake Porzana porzana

Pied Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta

Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva

Buff-breasted Sandpiper Calidris subruficollis

Little Tern Sternula albifrons

Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia

Black Tern Chlidonias niger

Great Spotted Cuckoo Clamator glandarius

Barn Owl Tyto alba

Snowy Owl Bubo scandiacus

Grey-headed Woodpecker Picus canus

European Green Woodpecker Picus viridis

Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis

Eurasian Magpie Pica pica

Calandra Lark Melanocorypha calandra

White´s Thrush Zoothera dauma

Grey-cheeked Thrush Catharus minimus

Siberian Thrush Geokichla sibirica

Eyebrowed Thrush Turdus obscurus

Naumann´s Thrush Turdus naumanni

Black-eared Wheatear Oenanthe hispanica

Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus

Baltimore Oriole Icterus galbula

n=29

Literature

I am born and bred in the southeast of Norway and have taken with me to the western shores a tradition where birding literature forms an important part of field birding. My subscription list includes Alula (†), Birding World (†), British Birds, Dutch Birding, Irish Birds, Roadrunner, Scottish Birds and Vår fågelvärld (plus some bird observatories' reports). Also, I am very fond of publications of ´The birdwatching year´ format (annual national reports). Such compilations have been running in Sweden since 1992 and in Denmark since 2006 with Norway on board from 2014, but are still lacking in most other countries including Britain. Now the Swedes have turned the rare bird report and the ordinary bird report into one, which is yet another move in the right direction. However, there are still many species missing before it can be seen as complete. Who will be the first to publish a report free of species discrimination – a national report that includes every species seen in the country in the current year?

Unfortunately, the vast majority of today's birders and twitchers fail to appreciate the value of ornithological literature (internet and mobile phone is aplenty) and thereby they reach only as far as they do.

Literature is key to knowledge.

Laughing mirthfully in the residence (Siv Dolmen).

Outside Stormhytta at the seawatch point on Utsira together with Niklas Holmström (right), author of Flight identification of European seabirds (Erik Sanders).